Meta expands AI data center Hyperion in Louisiana to five gigawatts – investment volume rises to over 50 billion dollars

The Hyperion campus is being built in rural Richland Parish in Louisiana. According to the company's plans, the facility is to cover nearly 16 square kilometers, making it one of the largest data center projects in the world by area. Meta began construction in December 2024 and, according to its own figures, has since awarded contracts worth 1.6 billion dollars to local businesses in Louisiana. In addition, the company says it is investing more than one billion dollars in local road and water projects.

The expansion envisions gradually increasing the site's computing capacity to five gigawatts. According to a Meta spokesperson, two gigawatts are to be reached by 2030. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook that the Hyperion supercluster would scale up to five gigawatts over several years. Meta has not yet given a specific completion date for full capacity.

Energy demand and new gas power plants

In addition to the five gigawatts for computing capacity, more than two gigawatts will be required for the campus's other power supply, according to Bloomberg. To meet this demand, a regional utility is planning to build ten new gas-fired power plants to supply the Hyperion site with electricity. Meta emphasizes that all energy, water, and infrastructure costs for the facility will be borne by the company itself.

According to the company, the growth driver is the enormous demand for AI accelerators. The largest share of the additional budget of around 200 billion dollars is to flow into such AI chips. Hyperion was originally intended primarily for training large language models, such as those behind services like ChatGPT.

Entry into the cloud business?

In parallel with the expansion, Meta is examining, according to information from Bloomberg, renting out unused computing capacity from the new AI data centers to external customers in the future, thereby entering the cloud market. With this strategy, the company would compete more directly with established hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, which are also relying on tax incentives and energy agreements in the U.S. to build their AI data centers faster and more cheaply.

In October, Meta and Blue Owl Capital had established a joint venture worth 27 billion dollars for the site, which was initially designed for two gigawatts. For the now planned expansion beyond the original joint venture, Meta has not yet named any additional financing partner. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry had previously signed a law exempting data centers built by 2029 from sales tax for 20 years.

Impact on Richland Parish

On the region's economic situation: Richland Parish has around 20,000 inhabitants and a poverty rate of approximately 26 percent – one of Louisiana's economically weaker counties. Meta estimates the number of jobs expected at the site after commissioning at more than 1,000. At the same time, Bloomberg had already reported in May that rising rents, a tight housing market, and growing traffic as a result of the influx of thousands of construction workers were putting a strain on the region.

On the stock market, the plans recently caused movement. In the week before the reporting, Meta's stock had risen by around eleven percent after the presentation of two new AI models under AI chief Alexandr Wang. On Monday, the stock lost 1.23 percent in NASDAQ trading, falling to $661.00. According to its own figures, Meta operates 33 data center sites worldwide and also announced another site in Alberta, Canada, the previous week.

Economically, Meta aims to secure its competitive advantage in the AI business with the Hyperion expansion. At the same time, the project shows how heavily the major tech companies rely on sites in the U.S. for the necessary infrastructure – and what sums as well as tax and energy policy frameworks are being mobilized for this. The final investment framework and the future financing structure for the expansion beyond the previous 27 billion dollars remain open for the time being.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC the target of two gigawatts by 2030. Landry himself described himself in an earlier interview as a pragmatic businessman and defended the tax package as on balance positive for the state and municipalities.